


Don't Call It a Comeback

by amiesdeDorothee



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Borrows a plot point from the comics, Bucky Barnes & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Bucky Barnes & Sam Wilson Friendship, Everybody's friends okay?, Injury Recovery, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Slow Burn, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson Friendship, The Tesseract is the Cosmic Cube
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-21
Packaged: 2018-02-04 18:57:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1789669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amiesdeDorothee/pseuds/amiesdeDorothee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Operation Frostbite, Mission Report:</p><p> Experiment has left the Sergeant Barnes in critical condition. He has been moved to Zurich Trauma Zentrum.<br/>As Barnes is not conscious, his current threat level cannot be appraised. Zentrum security precautions increased to Silver. Captain Rogers recommends full-time detail consisting of himself and Agents Wilson and Romanoff. I recommend adding a ten-man Tranq Team until Barnes proves to be Barnes.</p><p>Operation Frostbite is on hold. Operation Dandelion will commence with your approval, Director C.</p><p>[Steve tells Bucky about the new millennium as he recovers his memories of the old.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation Dandelion, Status Report Day 3:  
> Captain Rogers and Dr. Jazuat have agreed that Rogers will be the first contact Barnes will have when he wakes. They have reasoned that Rogers is qualified on psychological, personal, and physical levels to deal with most anticipated scenarios. Tranq Squad 3 will be ready for the remaining scenarios.

There was a certain mix of irony and poetry in the caved-in drywall across from the vending machine: irony in that it was a wound in a place of healing, and poetry in that it was a reminder that even the most monolithic institutions have a lifespan. Steve liked to imagine an RN tackled a HYDRA goon who was manhandling a nurse in her charge. Natasha thought it more likely that an orderly had put his experience from Code 300s to good use. Sam hoped it was from before the coup attempt, maybe the soda delivery guy crashed his cart and a box or two slid off and into the wall. The dent did have a definitively angular breakpoint, though that's where Nat and Steve agree someone's, either the goon's or the orderly's, shoulder hit. The dent wasn't the only scar the building had, the corner next to the on-call room Steve, Sam, and Nat were staying in still had burn marks from gunfire.

Hydra had left its mark and it (both the mark and Hydra) wasn't going away soon.

* * *

 

Three weeks ago, the Winter Soldier had been detained by agents in Morocco. When Steve talked with him over the comm system in his cell, he said he wasn't Bucky, but he wanted to be. They let Steve in to his cell the tenth day he was there in person. The Winter Soldier attacked him. Punched him right in the jaw before the guards tazed him down. The next day, he apologized, over comm.

 _"Steven,_ Steven, _are you there? Are you okay? I didn't mean to do that it was just, I thought you were my mission," The Soldier's voice cracked. " you're my friend Steven, I can feel it, but can't think when..." _He stopped for a moment, panting, near sobs, "_ you're a target, Steven, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Steven, please, forgive me."_

 The new director, C., sent Agent Hill to oversee the possible solutions. Hill contacted every Avenger and their Allies. Tony offered maintenance and research funds if an immediate solution couldn't be found. Dr. Banner said he couldn't remember anything the Other Guy does, so he's not the one to ask about amnesia or dissociation. Thor was sent to Asgard to consult the Scholars on the situation. He returned with news that Odin himself prescribed the Tesseract's energy as a cure to undoing the programming. It's lore sang that it could "Open doors long closed/ in the sky and in the soul"

That had been enough for Steve at the time, but now he regretted not getting Bruce or Dr. Foster to figure out the science behind it. Thor brought the Tesseract in to the cell. He set it in front of the Soldier. They were both sitting cross-legged on the floor with the cube between them when Thor began an incantation in Asgardian. The cube's glow intesified, filling every corner of the room in azure. It seemed to paralyze the Soldier. His stern brow furrowed and then softened as his mouth drifted open. He pulled in a ragged breath, pulled back from the Tesseract. The Soldier, Bucky, whoever he was then, seemed terrified of the cube but couldn't look away. The man looked like a child witnessing violence for the first time. He started to scoot away from the cube, but, still, he couldn't look away.

Steve couldn't look any longer. He turned his head from the screen and...

Three days of Agent Morales putting "no change" on her status reports later, he got a call from Dr Jazuat to be at a briefing of sorts. 

_"I've decided that, besides medical staff, you will be the only one allowed in the patient's room"_

Steve hated the part of him that flared up at the impersonal way Dr. Jazuat referred to Bucky. Especially considering she already told him several times that Bucky would be treated as a John Doe until he can tell them who he thinks he is.

_"Because I can stop the Winter Soldier?"_

_"No, we have Romanoff and ten other agents for that. You are the only other person_ ever _to be successfully cryogenically preserved. You alone know how disorienting it can be. Think about what you would have liked to hear when you woke up."_

Steve knew he wasn't going to try to fool Bucky with a 1940s shtick, Bucky would figure it out- he'd always been twice as clever as Steve. So, he came to the decision that the Where would be answered first, followed by Why, and then, if Bucky stayed calm, When.

* * *

 

It had been two days since then. As he walked back to his post, protein bar in hand, it occurred to Steve; what would he tell the Winter Soldier if he was the one in the hospital bed? Would he listen? Would he remember his time at the Sandbox or would he be back to Hydra default? What would happen if he was? Steve had fought his way out when he first woke up, and _he's_ not a trained assassin.

He had decided to ask Sam at the end of their shift together. Sam was sitting down, reading from his tablet, in the first of a line of blue cushioned wooden chairs lining the wall outside Bucky's room. The room Bucky was in was an isolation room, usually used for quarantine but it also had reinforced walls and bullet proof viewing windows in case of, well, the current situation. The blinds were lifted today which meant Ingrid wasn't on duty. She hated looking at Bucky, and she had every right. Bucky's identity had been compartmentalized to just Jazuat, Steve, Ali, Sam, and Nat. Ingrid probably didn't even know he was the Winter Soldier. He was just some Hydra goon with a prosthetic.

"What you reading?" Steve asked casually.

"Opinion blogs about the fall of SHIELD."

"Anything positive?"

"Nothing stupid. Mostly hindsight 20/20 shit"

"Like?"

Sam smirked, put on a mocking face, and paraphrased with a pedantic cadence. "How did you not notice half of your spies were double agents? Weren't they acting suspicious?"

Steve raised an eyebrow. "I don't think they understand how double agents work."

Sam laughed bitterly at that. "No, I guess not, but that doesn't stop them from scolding us for our _'_ _foolishness'_ like a bunch of schoolmarms" Sam looked down at his tablet to open another page. Steve just stood for a moment. His smile faded when he glanced into Bucky's room. Heartbeat 60, Blood Pressure 90/70. He'd learned from Jazuat that that was on the low side, but an athletic person tends to rest with lower vitals than normal so that wasn't a "bad omen." 

"Do you need to talk, Steve?" Sam asked, putting his tablet down and leaning in Steve's direction.

"What do I say to him, when he wakes up?" Steve kept his eyes on Bucky.

"I don't know man, how do you think Bucky would react to time displacement?" Steve turned to scowl at Sam who looked serious for a second before quirking an eyebrow at Steve stink-eye. "... alright dumb question. Well, he'll be confused so I guess your best bet is to keep him calm."  Sam started an explanatory gesture, but instead moved his hand in a circle grasping at what to say next. "Don't look at him like he's come back from the dead. That's just going to freak him out more."  Sam rubbed his brow "Um, ask him how's he's feeling, make sure he's comfortable." Sam ran his hand back over his head. "Alright, that's all I got. Any questions?"

"Who do you think's in there, the Soldier or Bucky?"

"I don't know man. If it is, the Soldier, don't give up, Cap, _he_ was your friend too."

"What do I tell him?"

Sam let out a long breath. "The experiment failed. He was injured and needed medical attention. If he needs anything just ask you. Help him out, Cap."

"That's sounds good. You want to go for a run tomorrow?"

"I'm going for a run. _You're_ gonna speed walk."

"Are you sure you can keep up with that?"

"I want to challenge myself. 0600 sharp?"

"That'll work." Steve said with a smile. He saw Natasha walking down the hall from the on-call room meaning Sam's shift was over. "Get some rest."

"Will do, Cap." Sam picked up his tablet in his left hand and stood up. He stretched a moment and then looked sincerely at Steve "He'll wake up." He started down the hallway. As he passed Natasha he raised his right hand for a high five. "Tag out."

"Tag in" Natasha responded with a face so straight, you'd think she took that little farce as serious protocol. She sat down in Sam's seat and gave Steve a slight smile. "How's our patient?"

Steve glanced back at Bucky. Heartbeat 68, Blood pressure 95/80. "Better, I guess?"

"Is that your official prognosis, doctor?"

"Well I'd say-" Wait, heartbeat 68? "His vitals rose." Steve stared at Bucky's chest to look for heavy breathing.

"By how much?" Nat was clearly still in her joking mood, as she had an imaginary clipboard in front of her.

"His heart beat was 60 ten minutes ago."

Natasha's eyes grew as she examined the screen next to Bucky's bed. "It's 70 now. Where's Dr Jazuat and Agent Morales?"

"I've been on duty since 0400, I don't know."

"Call them."

Steve ran to the nurse's station in the other corridor (the isolation rooms were set away from everything else to prevent collateral damage). He told Jadranko to call Jazuat and turned back and ran to see if Bucky had waken up yet. He stopped just short of ripping the door open to be at his bedside because technically he wasn't allowed access without Jazuat's supervision.

"Go on in." Yelled Jazuat from behind Steve. "We need him calm."

Steve opened the door. Heart rate 70. "Buck, You awake?"

His head turned, eyes squinted at the light, "S--s-St" his eyes opened a little wider as he turned his head back. "'s bright. t'rn 'f th'li' would'ya"

Steve did. Dr. Jazuat looked at him through the observation glass and gave him a thumbs-up. Steve gave her a thumbs-up back. 

Bucky was asleep when Steve got to the bedside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Status Report Day 5:  
> Sergeant Barnes awoke three times today. He responds to the name Bucky, but does not sustain consciousness long enough to recognize his surroundings. No change in security recommended.
> 
> [A code 300 is a violent patient. When a Code 300 is called, all strong staff members in the area help restrain the patient.]


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation Dandelion Status Report, Day 7:  
> The pattern of awakenings continues. The longest recorded as of 1600 hours, Zulu time was twenty-three seconds long. Dr. Jazuat expects full consciousness within a month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agent Morales,  
> Thank you for sending me updates. You're a diligent agent. I am very pleased to hear that Barnes's condition is improving, but I would like you to include what the Captain is feeling in regards to the situation in your next report.
> 
> Keep up the good work,  
> C.  
> [I apologize, I meant to post this Sunday and life was not happy with that and fucked up my schedule]

"Week two begins" Nat sighed as she arrives for her shift. She was relieving Agent Morales, the analyst in charge of Operation Dandelion. Sam was her partner this time around. He was staring intently, arms crossed, into the quarantine room at the Soldier's vitals. She asked him "Does he look any better?"

"I couldn't tell you." He replies "Ali, what do you think?" Agent Morales was a Latina with long naturally wavy hair. She had a thin nose and lips that were a light, shiny pink without lipstick. She kind of looked like a biker chick, but that may have just been the leather jacket she was wearing. She marked her place in the book she was reading, and then stood up and eyed Sam like a scolding mother.

"I think as your Superior Officer for this mission, we're not allowed to be on a first-name basis for at least the first month."

Sam looked wide-eyed at her and _seemed_ cowed, but then he said, "So, what I'm hearing is when Barnes wakes up, I can call you Ali."

She fought a smirk. "Alisandre. If you're on your best behavior."

"Can do, Agent." He saluted, but not an Air Force salute. Its a casual friend-to-friend mock salute, he even has relaxed fingers, Nat notices, as he moves the salute outwards.  

"How did a goofball like you get entrusted with experimental SHIELD tech?" There was a fondness in her exasperated voice that clashed with the hands on her hips and the roll of her eyes.

"Charm, my dear." He looked like he was going to continue when he remembered Nat's presence, her having stepped forward to be shoulder-to-shoulder with him. "So, Agent, what is your opinion on the patient's condition?" He looks all business for about three seconds after asking the question. At which point, he cracks into a smile bigger than the one she saw on him the day the _Lemurian Star_ was hijacked.

Nat saw why when she looked at Agent Morales. Morales had her lips pursed and her hands clasped across her midsection. She looked aloof in a way that only ever happens unironically on college professors with multiple PhD's.

"In my expert opinion," Morales said in an upper-crust Yankee accent. "The man in that room is most definitely asleep, perhaps even comatose."

"Sorry, Nat, looks like we need a trained eye." Sam opens his mouth to say something, but he takes a moment to phrase it correctly "You _are_ still Nat, right?"

The Black Widow smiled. Being friends with Captain America and a first-string Avenger made her reinvention a little harder than she'd expected. She thought she'd have at _least_ a week or two to establish a civilian identity, but that fantasy had ended when Operation Frostbite became an Avenger mission. SHIELD had been so eager to pull every remaining resource that Natasha had almost expected a helicarrier to decloak above her hotel and take her to Morocco. Then, after Thor's cure idea nearly killed the Soldier, Steve had asked her and Sam personally to help him watch Barnes during the recovery. There are many skills possessed by graduates of the Red Room Academy; saying "no" to puppy dog eyes without a gun in your hands is not one of them.

"For the moment." She said.

"Alright," He said, a smirk crawling its way up his right cheek. "Let's spitball names."

"Where's his tablet?" 

"He left it in the on-call, he doesn't want to miss the awakening like the _last_ two times."

"You expect me to put down an article mid sentence?"

"I expect you to _act_  like you care about your job in the presence of your boss."

"You're not the boss of me."

She must know it's too easy, Nat can see that Sam said that to get a rise out of her, but Morales indulges him anyway.

"Until Barnes wakes up, I am. Don't make me demote you." She started walking towards the on-call room.

"You don't have that authority." Sam asserted before she got past him.

She stopped right next to Sam. "You don't know that." She said into his ear "New SHIELD, new rules."

"Damn," Sam said "like, I got nothing."

"Like a Boss." Morales continued her walk to the on-call room. "Tag out!" she shouted over her shoulder.

"Tag in," giggled Natasha.

"You shut the hell up, Stephanie."

"I couldn't pull off Stephanie." Nat sat in the second chair from the door to Barnes's room.

"How about 'Gertrude'?"

"Gerti might work. Shouldn't you be watching the patient?"

"Right," Sam said slowly, turning back to the glass, "okay." He dragged his head back to watch the EKG screen.

* * *

 

About fifty minutes in to the shift, Sam sounded near giddy to say, "Heart rate sixty-eight.". 

"Could be nothing." Nat hummed.

"Oh, don't you start ragging on me too. I need some allies in this world. Heart Rate 70. At least I know Ali's joking, you could actually hate me."

"Why would I hate you, you gave me the name Gerti."

"Please don't crush my head between thighs."

"Don't think about my thighs."

"Yes ma'am." Sam whimpered. He abruptly snapped out of his melodrama to declare. "Heart-Rate 71, get Rogers!" hoping nearby nurses or tranq staff would hear.

Dr. Jazuat came jogging down the hallway. "Jadranko is getting the Captain," She informed them. "What's going on?"

"He's waking up."

"I can see that." Jazuat went over to the clipboard hanging next to the door and noted the time. "Rogers should-"

Steve and Morales rounded the corner, Steve starting to out pace her as he made the beeline to the room. It was impressive that Morales kept up, even if he Captain could only jog when turning (there are three turns between the on call room and the quarantine ward). Maybe Steve had let her stay next to him. Jazuat saw him coming and blocked the door. She was trying to prevent Steve from barging in before she could talk to him.

"Captain." 

"Doctor" Steve smiled, embarrassed at his eagerness.

"Try to ask him the A&O questions."

"Which are?"

"What's your name? Do you know where you are? Do you know what year it is? Do you know why you're here?"

"He's not going to know any of that."

"Then tell him and we'll test his orientation next time." She waited until he nodded before opening the door. "Good luck." Steve went in and Jazuat closed the door behind him. She sighed. "Boy do I wish I had that kind of energy in the morning."

"Boy do I wish Barnes could have waited til morning." groaned Morales.

"Sorry you got waken up, Ali."

"It's fine, well not the firs- ah, forget it. Not worth it." She said trying to muster sweetness out of aggravation, "I forgot to ask you something. C wanted me to ask Rogers how he 'feels' about the mission. Whatever the hell that means."

"What's C worried about?" Nat asked.

"Cap's well-being, I guess." Morales replied.

"Well, I think we just saw Cap's enthusiasm for his assignment."

"Yeah, well," Morales sucked in a breath. "I'm sure we'd be the same if Riley was in there."

"Yeah." Sam sighed, and in that instant, one word conveyed a novel.

For a moment, Sam and Morales looked at the same piece of ground. Their silence was heavy with regret.

"He seems hopeful." Morales said as she and Sam came back from their shared gloom.

"I don't think he can be anything else." Nat responded.

"What do you mean?"

"The image of Captain America is optimism. He must know that if he gives up everyone else does too."

"Seems possible, but I need t-"

Steve opened the door. Jazuat marked the time.

"How is he?" Sam asked.

"He's Bucky" Steve said a sparkle in his eyes that Nat couldn't identify as tears of joy or sorrow. "I- I really think he's Bucky"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Operation Dandelion Status Report, Day 8:  
> Captain Rogers has oriented Sergeant Barnes to his situation. He appears to be taking it well. I am concerned that he may believe that he has gone from one handler to another. In regards to your request, I have not approached Rogers on his personal feelings on the mission. I imagine he wants the mission to be successful more than anyone. Wilson and Romanova believe he's optimistic about the treatment, but Romanova voiced a concern that this may be a facade. I will bring the subject up to him during our next shared shift.


End file.
